The Beginning of Sorrows as Revealed in Daniel 7 and 8

 

 

Daniel’s visions in chapters 7 and 8 reveal the beginning of sorrows leading up to the great tribulation, showing us what is soon to happen on the world stage, including the fate of the United States.

Daniel 8:2

“And I looked in the vision, and it came to be while I was looking, that I was in the citadel of Shushan, which is in the province of Ěylam. And I looked in the vision, and I was by the River Ulai.”

Daniel was in the perfect position, between Iran and Saudi Arabia, to witness the events that are about to happen in the Middle East:

https://bibleatlas.org/region/ulai_river.jpg

Daniel 8:3

“And I lifted my eyes and looked and saw a ram standing beside the river, and it had two horns, and the two horns were high. And the one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last.”

Today these horns are Iran and Saudi Arabia, respectively. Saudi Arabia is a relative new comer since oil was discovered there by the British and became a great power with the assistance of the United States. Saudi Arabia is the higher horn that came up last.

Daniel 8:4

“I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward, so that no beast could stand before him, and there was no one to deliver from his hand, while he did as he pleased and became great.”

No doubt Iran and Saudi Arabia support terrorism across this region, especially against the State of Israel, but also to keep other neighbors in line as well. Israel has long wanted to destroy the power of Iran but seems to not have a problem with Saudi Arabia.

Daniel 8:5

“And I was observing and saw a male goat came from the west, over the surface of all the earth, without touching the ground. And the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes.”

Who is this male goat that comes from the West, over the surface of all the earth without touching the ground? I propose that this male goat is NATO, and the conspicuous horn is the United States. No doubt that NATO comes from the West and can go over the surface of the earth without touching the ground. The United States is conspicuous in that it is the ruling power and force of NATO.

Daniel 8:6-7

“And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing beside the river, and ran at him in the rage of his power.

“And I saw him come close to the ram, and he became embittered against him, and struck the ram, and broke his two horns. And there was no power in the ram to withstand him, but he threw him down to the ground and trampled on him. And there was no one to deliver the ram from his hand.”

What would cause the United States to crush Saudi Arabia and Iran? We have all see the news recently that Saudi Arabia is now open to selling it’s oil in currencies other than the dollar. We also saw what the United States did to Iraq when Saddam Hussein said he would sell oil in Euros. Would the US respond differently to Saudi Arabia? This action is absolutely necessary to save the petrodollar. The United States will become enraged at Saudi Arabia and Iran for selling oil in other currencies.

But what about Iran? Since Saudi Arabia is pivoting away from the US, Israel is the only ally left in the Middle East. Israel’s problem is with Iran’s nuclear program and its threat to their existence. I therefore propose that Israel will join NATO and both Iran and Saudi Arabia will be destroyed by them.

Daniel 8:8

“And the male goat became very great. But when he was strong, the large horn was broken, and in place of it four conspicuous ones came up toward the four winds of the heavens.”

With the United States taking over oil production in the Middle East, the dollar would regain it’s strength and with it, NATO would also greatly benefit making it “very great.”

But then Daniel says “when he was strong, the large horn was broken.” Again, the large horn is the United States since the United States is the power behind NATO. I propose that the United States will be attacked in retaliation for it’s attack on Saudi Arabia and Iran, probably by Russia, and possibly by both Russia and China. I suspect this would be a nuclear attack that completely decimates the military of the US and Israel.

Apparently a coalition of four nations will take over as the world power. These will no doubt be Russia and China, and possibly the now de-fanged UK and European Union. I don’t believe that Russia and China will use nuclear weapons on Europe and the UK since after the United States, Europe is the primary market for China to sell its goods to and for Russia to sell natural gas. After the United States is gone from being a world power, both China and Russia will want the EU and UK to trade with.

Daniel 7:4

“The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings. I was looking until its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on two feet like a man, and it was given a man’s heart.”

I propose the lion is Great Briton and the eagle’s wings are the United States. Daniel tells us that the “wings were plucked off” indicating that the United States is no more, and Great Briton is forced to stand on its own two feet, no longer a lion since its power was the United States.

Daniel 7:5

“And see, another beast, a second, like a bear. And it was raised up on one side, and had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And they said this to it, ‘Arise, devour much flesh!’”

This verse no doubt refers to Russia, and the flesh it eats is the United States.

Daniel 7:6

“After this I looked and saw another, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and rule was given to it.”

The leopard here refers to China. The four heads are the ruling powers of Russia, China, Great Briton and the EU.

So Daniel 7 tells us who the players are in Daniel 8. The next of Daniels visions lead to what we see in the book of Revelation.

Daniel 7:7-8

“After this I looked in the night visions and saw a fourth beast, fearsome and burly, exceedingly strong. And it had great iron teeth. It devoured and crushed, and trampled down the rest with its feet. And it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.

“I was thinking about the horns, then saw another horn, a little one, coming up among them, and three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots before it. And see, eyes like the eyes of a man were in this horn, and a mouth speaking great words.”

These verses no doubt refer to the dragon in Revelation 13 and the anti-Mashiach, while the next verses in Daniel 8 are specifically with regards to the anti-Mashiach.

Daniel 8:9-11

“And from one of them came a little horn which became exceedingly great toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the Splendid Land.

‘And it became great, up to the host of the heavens. And it caused some of the host and some of the stars to fall to the earth, and trampled them down.

“It even exalted itself as high as the Prince of the host. And it took that which is continual away from Him, and threw down the foundation of His set-apart place.”

I think when you look at all of these verses together, we get a picture of the destruction of the United States as a world power, which is necessary to bring in the fourth beast of Daniel 7:7, Revelation 13, and the anti-Mashiach.

Therefore when we see the United States, with NATO as its fig leaf, attack Saudi Arabia and Iran, we can know that the destruction of the United States is near and the great tribulation imminent. Once the government of the United States and its military are destroyed, we can expect the beast to come here to dominate our country and set up its own government.